Reg Sharkey remembered

Whether through his writing or his work to develop outdoor amenities, many remember Petoskey resident Reg Sharkey for his efforts to bring nature closer to the public.

Sharkey, who had careers in aviation and natural resources and penned outdoor columns for Northern Michigan newspapers for many years, died last week at age 91.

"Reg was a man of the outdoors," said Little Traverse Conservancy executive director Tom Bailey. "He grew up outdoors, spent a lot of his career outdoors and spent a lot of happy hours in retirement outdoors."

Sharkey began a stint with the Michigan Department of Conservation - now the Department of Natural Resources - in 1964, working in fisheries in the Petoskey area. When his department acquired Petoskey's municipal beach to establish the Petoskey State Park, Sharkey sought out a transfer to its parks division. He would help construct its original buildings and lay out its nature trails, Bailey noted.

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A one-time member of the conservancy's board, Sharkey helped the organization develop some of its own nature trails, Bailey added.

"Reg was an old-fashioned, Teddy Roosevelt-style conservationist," the conservancy director said. "He believed very passionately in a constructive balance of use and preservation for our natural resources.

"He delighted in wild nature, but he also wanted to make the wild available for people to enjoy."

For 27 years, Sharkey contributed an outdoor column entitled "Jack Pine Journal" to the News-Review, and provided outdoor content for other area newspapers as well.

"Reg was a pioneer in outdoor column writing for the average person," News-Review editor and publisher Ken Winter said. "He probably wrote one of the most popular columns in the history of our paper by a non-staff member."

Sharkey sometimes focused his columns on responding to questions from readers, like how to deal with injured or abandoned animals, Winter noted. At other times, he described processes in nature, like the changing of leaf color.

In 1997, Sharkey wrote a book, "The Blue Meteor," describing the life and ultimate extinction of the passenger pigeon. He provided the Little Traverse Historical Society with rights to the book.

Through his foundation, retired Petoskey ophthalmologist and conservation advocate John Tanton provided Sharkey with some funding for the book project.

Tanton noted that Sharkey's storytelling ability helped to "bring the natural world into your living room."

"He was a great fellow," Tanton added. "He was fun to be around."

Before Sharkey's death, Little Traverse Historical Society president Betty Reddig had worked with him toward compiling his outdoor columns in book form. She's continuing with that project, and added that one Northern Michigan publisher has expressed interest in producing the volume.

Sharkey's philosophies about the natural world proved memorable for Reddig. While he wasn't opposed to hunting, she noted that Sharkey believed people should approach it with conservation in mind.

Regarding humans' relationship with animals in nature, Reddig said Sharkey's perspective seemed to be "Love them, but leave them - in other words, don't take them home and make them pets."

Sharkey was born in Big Rapids. As a young man, he took an interest in aviation while hanging around airfields. He would get involved with "barnstorming," taking passengers for rides and landing in cow pastures and other locations.

Later, Sharkey enrolled in the Army Air Corps during the 1930s, and survived an ocean crash of a bomber off Cape Haterras. In 1937, he returned to Michigan for several years, spending some of that time as a charter pilot.

When World War II broke out, Sharkey was called back to military duty, first as a Civil Aeronautics Administration air traffic controller. He later helped establish air traffic control centers in North Africa and the Mediterranean. In the postwar years, Sharkey worked with Trans World Airways in Iran, helping to move people and material out of the country.

In 2003, Pellston Regional Airport manager Kelley Atkins said Sharkey made arrangements with him to donate some memorabilia - like an early 20th century wooden propeller and a decoy used in the hunting of the passenger pigeon - for display in the airport's new terminal.

"He was pretty opinionated and pretty sharp for someone in his 90s," Atkins said. "It was fun to listen to some of the stories of pre-World War II and the World War II era."

Atkins also learned of one of Sharkey's daily rituals. Each afternoon, he'd treat himself to a rum and Coke, referring to the drinks as "zombies."

Sharkey also shared numerous stories from earlier in his life with a neighbor, Richard Babcock. Some of these stories - like one about hunting wild boar during his years in the military - served to illustrate Sharkey's sense of adventure.

"He could do anything," Babcock said. "If an opportunity came along, he took it where a lot of people wouldn't."

Babcock recalled an accident which helped introduce him to his neighbor in the 1970s. While Sharkey was cutting trees in preparation to build his home, one of them fell onto Babcock's mother's car. But it didn't result in hard feelings.

In fact, Babcock said Sharkey would later take trips to hunt deer and squirrel with him and his family members.

"He was a great guy in all areas," Babcock said. "He welcomed me and my family into his house as if we were part of his family."

Sharkey's wife, Vivian, preceded him in death. Babcock said Sharkey had one son who died as a child.

Sharkey has been cremated. A graveside memorial service for him may be held this spring in Cadillac.